The Council of TCDSU voted tonight to mandate the Union’s president to campaign for a dedicated student centre to be constructed within the next five years. In the first motion to be discussed at the first Council of the new academic year, held in the Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute (TBSI) on Pearse St., current SU president Kieran McNulty proposed that the SU dedicate energy to such a campaign.
The motion voted upon by Council noted the egregious “lack of available dedicated student space” on campus at present, and furthermore that Trinity is currently the only university in the country without such a facility, in contrast to other institutions, such as UCD and Maynooth University, where students have entire buildings dedicated to the purpose.
Ahead of the motion, a discussion item took place on the general subject of student space. Many student representatives spoke in relation to the overall lack of space, specifically in off-campus locations. McNulty stated that the issue of student spaces is at the “very bottom of the college’s agenda”, and told reps that “I do need your help” in making it more of an issue. He stated that he had received pictures from students of people sitting on floors in buildings around college, and that fundamentally, student space ought to be a priority ahead of staff space.
Speaking in favour of the motion later on, McNulty said that the policy was “one of the things I ran for when I ran for president”, and that a proposal on the issue has already been submitted to the Provost.
Already this year, TCDSU have opened three student spaces on campus, including one on the 4th floor of the Arts Block, and another in the Hamilton. McNulty stated in his officer’s report that he hoped the policy would eventually form a part of the College Estates Strategy.
Nobody else spoke on the motion, and it passed unanimously.
